FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1932
1932 - 0126.PDF
FLIGHT, FEBRUARY 5, 1932 may then be revived, whether it is operated by the Indian Government or by a private company. The main aerodromes at Karachi, Delhi and Dum Dum (Calcutta) were provided with hangars and with wireless and meteorological facilities. Karachi was declared a Customs aerodrome, as were Akyab, Rangoon and the R.A.F. landing ground at Victoria Point, all the last three being on the Calcutta-Rangoon extension. At the aero dromes of Karachi, Hyderabad (Sind), Jodhpur and] Delhi, where night landings were to be expected, full lighting equipment was installed, namely, a 5 kw. revolv ing flood light on trails, boundary lights, obstruction lights and illuminated wind indicator. Emergency landing grounds were prepared at Uterlai, in Jodhpur State, and Badhal, in Jaipur State, which were to have each a 3-kw. ! beacon and other lights. It was proposed, moreover, to erect unattended 3-kw. revolving shutter beacons about 60 miles apart on the stretches Hyderabad-Uterlai and ; Jodhpur-Badhal. The country between Badhal and Delhi • is hilly, and there it was proposed to instal five 150-kw. optical beacons to be maintained and operated by the railway staff. For lighting this section of the route a sum of Rs. 6,22,000 was set apart. Four Avro 10 aircraft, each with three " Lynx " engines, were ordered. Three Indian gentlemen who had received training in England as holders of Government of India scholarships, were appointed as aerodrome officers at Delhi, Allahabad and Karachi. Subsequently aerodrome officers were also appointed at Dum Dum and Rangoon. Bombay does not lie on the main east-west route, but it is the second most important commercial city in India, while Madras ranks third in the list. An airway running Karachi-Bombay-Madras would be the most important branch off from the main line. The Juhu aerodrome at Bombay is apt to disappear under water during the monsoon season, and a sum of over three lakhs was set apart for raising the surface of Juhu. Mr. Tymms had only been D.C.A. for four months when all these rosy prospects were dashed to the ground. The Retrenchment Committee was instructed to review the civil aviation programme, and work was accordingly suspended, except on the four Avro aircraft which had been ordered. Ultimately, the civil aviation budget was reduced from 35f lakhs to a little over 8£ lakhs. The Indian State Air Service was abandoned for the time, and naturally the lighting of the Karachi-Delhi section was also given up. Two of the Avro machines have been sold to the Egyptian Government—as already recorded in FLIGHT—and one has been handed over to H.E. the Viceroy for official tours. The fate of the fourth has not yet been disclosed. All Government civil aerodromes were placed on a maintenance basis. The allotment for wireless services was cut down from Rs. 4,13,000 to Rs. 3,50,000. The contract with Imperial Airways for flights between Karachi and Delhi expired on December 29, 1931, and would not have been renewed in any case. An arrange- Cape Air Mail Troubles FATE has been unkind to the initial operation of the regular through air mail service of Imperial Airways between Croydon and Capetown, for a series of irritating minor mishaps has occurred to both the first outward and the first homeward services. First of all the outward mail from Croydon was delayed at Nairobi, and later, on or about January 30, the City of Baghdad encountered a violent rainstorm between M'beya and M'pika and landed until the storm was over, proceeding some time later for Broken Hill. Meanwhile, the City of Basra, with the home ward mail (Dep. Capetown January 25) was damaged while taking off from Salisbury—one of the wheels taking the place of a previously-removed anthill. The mails were transferred to the City of Delhi, which proceeded north wards, only to be forced down a little later by another violent rainstorm 40 miles south of Broken Hill. This time, however, the pilot landed in swampy ground and the machine was bogged, so the mails had to be taken overland to Broken Hill where they were transferred to the City of Baghdad, which had arrived from the north as previously stated. The mails froBn England (brought by the latter machine) were taken by the City of Karachi to Capetown, where they arrived on February 2, two days late! It is suggested that new names be given to the air liners—City of Box and City of Cox. However, it is to be hoped that Imperial Airways will have better luck in the future, but in fairness to all concerned it should be pointed ment has been made with the Delhi Flying Club whereby the latter takes over charge of Delhi aerodrome (the Government aerodrome officer being transferred), and will for the time being carry the mails in a " Moth " between Karachi and Delhi. This entails one flight in each direc tion every week. Passengers will not be carried. A new " Moth " was ordered from the de Havilland Aircraft Co. to carry on this service. It has been stated, and it applied to the first flight, that the pilot is to be an Indian. The west-bound mail will stop for the night at Hyderabad. An arrangement has been come to with the railway whereby there will be checking points every 100 miles, so that the progress of the machine can be followed, and, in case of need, a relief machine can be despatched with the minimum of delay. The " Moth " which has been ordered for this service was to have a pay-load of 350 lb. of mail matter. This should be ample, as, according to the Delhi correspondent of the Statesman, the volume of mail, though steadily growing, has only reached an average of about 100 lb. weekly from Europe, of which about half was deposited at Jodhpur for despatch by train to Bom bay, while the rest was brought on to Delhi. Bombay was not able to get much advantage from the homeward air mail, owing to the railway timings, so that the bulk of the homeward mail came from Delhi and amounted to about 50 or 60 lb. a week. A great swelling in the weight of mail matter was to be expected as soon as the airway was extended to reach Calcutta ; and it is, indeed, griev ous that the time for this extension to come into being has had to be postponed. Without an air service across India to the chief business city of that country, the air mail to India is of very limited utility, and that more to the Government than to the commercial community. Meteorology affects all countries, and the curtailment of the work of the meteorological stations in India is of general interest. From January 1 of the present year weather forecasting was restricted to the centres at Karachi and Calcutta, and the forecasting from Delhi and Rangoon was discontinued. The issue of weather reports from Madras and of weather data from Karachi by short wave broadcast was also stopped. The modifications are given in detail below: — (a) The Gaya W/T. and D.F. stations were closed. (b) The Delhi D.F. station was closed. (c) The Allahabad D.F. station was closed. (d) The W/T. and D.F. stations at Chittagong, Akyab, Sandoway and Bassein were to be completed and opened with a skeleton staff. (e) The modification of the Rangoon W/T. and D.F. stations for aviation were to be completed and opened for air traffic with a skeleton staff. (/) -The proposed modification of the Victoria Point wireless station so as to serve aircraft will not be carried out. out that the machines involved, all D.H. " Hercules " type, are now trusty veterans hardly suitable—and, in fact, they were never designed—for the elevated storm- swept areas of Central Africa. Soon, however, the new and improved airliners ^ (eight Armstrong-Whitworth " Ata- lantas ") will, we hope,' be put into service and similar comedies will be few and far between. More Trouble IT is reported from Teheran that the Persian Govern ment has notified the British Legation that Persia does not intend to renew the agreement permitting British air liners on the service to India to pass over Persian terri tory. Imperial Airways will, therefore, have to seek out a new route—probably over Arabia, with Bahrein as a base. A Ray of Sunshine ON top of all Imperial Airways' troubles comes the report that one of the airliners on the Indian air route has created a new record for big commercial aircraft by flying from Bushire to Karachi, a distance of 1,100 miles, in a single day. U.S. In Trouble Too SEVEN aeroplanes with 20 or more persons aboard are missing in various parts of the United States owing ip storms and fog. Only one is known to have crashed. Air patrols, motor cars, motor boats and horsemen are search ing for the machines.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
